A Better Way to Scrapbook

After Megan was born and we printed off the hundred or so pictures of her first few weeks of life, I decided I wanted to scrapbook all her pictures from her first year for a baby book for her. I bought some paper, embellishments, and an album at the Provo Craft Outlet just down the street from my house. Well, I was finding that I didn't have a lot of time to do this, being a new mom and everything that entails. I had even moved all my scrapbooking supplies from the basement to our built in desk area in our kitchen to make it easier. It still took too long to get everything out and figure out how I wanted the pages to look. By the time I got one or two pages finished, it was time to feed or change the baby and I was left with a HUGE mess on my kitchen table and no energy to put it all back. It wasn't too long before I remembered the photo-book I made for my sister last Christmas with pictures of our trip to Disneyland. I checked the website again and sure enough they had added a baby book option. I decided right then that I would never scrapbook again.

I have spent the better part of this last week finishing up two photo-books, one for my dad's wedding since he didn't hire a photographer and Megan's baby book, since she's a year old now. The website I use is www.mypublisher.com. These were my fourth and fifth books that I have completed now and I really love the program. You download it for free and they frequently send out emails with 20-40% off discounts. It's really easy to use and if I can figure it out, you can too. They have about 7 or 8 different styles of books and lots of different page layouts depending on how many pictures you want per page. You can add text too as well as minor editing like cropping, changing the photo to black and white, and red-eye. They also email when they've upgraded the program and added more options. It's all stored on your computer until you are ready to purchase and then you need the internet to send it the company for printing and binding. It only takes about a week to get it back too. I made a book for our trip to Europe in 2005 and one for all of last year. They look so beautiful and professional. The price varies depending on the size of book and how many pages you want and if you want leather or canvas cover. I really think it's similar, if not cheaper than a whole scrapbook when you consider the price to print the pictures, buy paper and an album and all the embellishments. I love that it's a bound book as well, something that will last and you don't have to worry about pictures falling off and getting lost. It also gets my pictures off my computer and into a book where we can enjoy looking at them. So, if you're sick of scrapbooking, or never really liked scrapbooking to begin with, check out mypublisher.com. It's not as creative of a process as scrapbooking is and doesn't have TONS of options for layouts, but that's why I love it. I don't have to think too much about it and my pictures look beautiful when the book comes. Also, you can get a lot finished in a short amount of time and there's no getting out a bunch of supplies and then having to clean up. Here's a link to Megan's baby book on-line so you can check one out. Just to warn you, it is 100 pages, so kind of long, but take a look at a few pages if you're interested. There are sample ones on the website, but I'm sure they are professional photographer's pictures and they look gorgeous. My pictures are taken by me, so I think it gives a better example of how they turn out. And of course, they look better in person than on a computer. Enjoy!!!

http://www.mypublisher.com/bookshelf/bookviewer.py?d=tq%3Ey-cppl%60je%3E3279%3A11